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BCS Rankings Week 10: Northern Illinois Moves To No. 17 In Latest Rankings

After blowing out the EMU Eagles on Saturday, the NIU Huskies find them just outside the first safezone that could put them back in a BCS bowl this winter.

By Bryan M. Vance
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Northern Illinois has received a slight bump in the second installment of BCS standings of 2013. ESPN released the BCS standings for Week 10 Sunday night and the Huskies have bumped up one spot to No. 17 after coming in at No. 18 in this past week.

NIU routed Eastern Michigan 59-20 Saturday evening, and moved up several spots in the AP and Coaches poll's, resulting in a one spot bump this week in the BCS standings. The Huskies are still two spots above Louisville, the highest ranked American Athletic Conference team, meaning if they are one spot away from the safe zone. If NIU can finish at No. 16 or higher in the final BCS standings and still be ranked above an AAC (or any AQ-conference champion) it earns an at large bid. Of course if the Huskies can finish No. 12 or higher they automatically get an at large BCS bid.

The Huskies obviously want to finish at No. 12 or higher to not have to worry about Louisville or No. 23 Central Florida, but possibly standing in their way is fellow non-AQ member Fresno State. The Bulldogs came in at No. 17 a week ago, and despite needing overtime to beat a middle of the pack San Diego State squad on Saturday, still maintains a slight lead over NIU at No. 16.

But, it's interesting to note that the gap between the two teams has narrowed ever so slightly from .34 to .33 in the average score. The Bulldogs still remain unranked in two of the computer polls, and with a tougher schedule down the stretch, NIU could still leapfrog them at some point if it can pull off some stylish victories. If Fresno State loses and NIU wins out that would also put the Huskies ahead of the Bulldogs.

A year ago, when NIU cracked the BCS, its highest ranking was No. 15 in the final standings of the regular season. With being just two spots outside of that and sitting at 8-0 on the season, the odds of the Huskies returning to the BCS are getting larger by the week. But NIU still needs to survive tough battles with Ball State (Nov. 13) and Toledo (Nov. 20). Weeknight MACtion just got a lot more interesting.

Here's a look at the full BCS standings for Week 10:

BCS Harris Poll USA Today Computer Rankings
RK TEAM AVG PVS RK PTS % RK PTS % AVG A&H RB CM KM JS PW %
1 Alabama .9937 1 1 2590 .9962 1 1542 .9948 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 .990
2 Oregon .9517 3 2 2492 .9585 2 1483 .9568 2 3 2 1 2 4 3 .940
3 Florida State .9211 2 3 2386 .9177 3 1419 .9155 3 2 5 4 3 1 2 .930
4 Ohio State .8840 4 4 2301 .8850 4 1375 .8871 4 4 3 3 8 5 4 .880
5 Stanford .7918 6 6 2035 .7827 7 1182 .7626 5 6 4 5 4 6 6 .830
6 Baylor .7645 8 5 2130 .8192 5 1293 .8342 10 10 11 7 12 9 10 .640
7 Miami (FL) .7560 7 7 1977 .7604 6 1190 .7677 6 5 15 6 7 8 9 .740
8 Clemson .6687 9 8 1767 .6796 8 1064 .6865 10 11 7 11 10 11 8 .640
9 Missouri .6096 5 9 1510 .5808 10 834 .5381 8 9 9 8 5 10 7 .710
10 Oklahoma .6064 15 10 1475 .5673 9 933 .6019 9 7 6 9 11 13 12 .650
11 Auburn .6025 11 11 1453 .5588 11 804 .5187 7 8 18 10 6 7 5 .730
12 Texas A&M .4812 16 13 1364 .5246 14 758 .4890 14 16 19 13 13 18 14 .430
13 LSU .4630 13 12 1408 .5415 13 802 .5174 16 20 10 23 15 20 16 .330
14 South Carolina .4486 21 17 1043 .4012 16 627 .4045 12 12 8 18 9 16 13 .540
15 Texas Tech .3749 10 14 1093 .4204 15 673 .4342 17 18 14 16 22 22 21 .270
16 Fresno State .3669 17 18 965 .3712 18 542 .3497 15 13 25 14 NR 14 11 .380
17 Northern Illinois .3335 18 20 650 .2500 20 373 .2406 13 17 12 12 14 3 15 .510
18 Oklahoma State .3113 19 15 1081 .4158 12 803 .5181 29 NR NR NR NR NR NR .000
19 Louisville .2599 20 16 1056 .4062 17 579 .3735 29 NR 17 NR NR NR NR .000
20 UCLA .2338 12 19 683 .2627 19 432 .2787 21 25 20 NR 19 23 20 .160
21 Michigan .1875 22 21 528 .2031 21 309 .1994 21 14 22 17 24 NR 25 .160
22 Michigan State .1811 NR 23 391 .1504 24 237 .1529 18 23 NR 15 18 17 22 .240
23 UCF .1789 23 22 502 .1931 22 300 .1935 23 NR 16 25 NR 21 17 .150
24 Wisconsin .0993 NR 24 350 .1346 23 253 .1632 29 NR NR NR NR NR NR .000
25 Notre Dame .0928 NR NR 91 .0350 25 83 .0535 19 21 13 21 20 25 23 .190

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How do you feel about NIU's No. 17 ranking? Think it's a bit low, maybe a bit high? Do you think the Huskies will win out and crack the Top 12? Let us know below:

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